Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald TD has expressed her profound shock following the publication of the report of the Farrelly Commission investigation into the ‘Grace’ case.
Ms McDonald said:
“I am profoundly shocked by the report. Eight years after this investigation began, we still have no answers and nobody is held to account for a child, later a young woman, being left in danger despite people coming forward to voice serious concerns.
“Grace, a person with profound intellectual disabilities, was failed catastrophically by the state. She was left in a foster home for nearly twenty years, despite a litany of credible allegations of sexual and physical abuse, and neglect from the 1990s. When the decision was taken in 1996 to remove ‘Grace’ from the foster home it was reversed after the alleged abuser lobbied a Senior government Minister. She remained in the home until 2009 – a further thirteen years.
“After eight years of investigation, and six years after this report was supposed to be published, it beggars belief that the Commission states that there is insufficient evidence that Grace was subjected to sexual, physical or emotional abuse while at the foster home. This finding only serves to compound the abysmal failures and further undermines public confidence in how people with disabilities in care of the state are protected, especially children.
“The report does find evidence of neglect of ‘Grace’ regarding her healthcare, particularly regarding her dental care which led to gum disease and the extraction of seven teeth. The scale of the neglect is frightening and it is damning that it was allowed to go on.
“In her statement today, Minister Norma Foley claimed the landscape concerning the treatment of vulnerable children in the care of the state has radically changed. The reality is that we have over one hundred children who are in the care of the state living in unregulated emergency accommodation.
“Grace, as a child and as a young woman, was failed in the most profound and horrific way. Failed by the health authorities, by successive governments, by the state – by everyone who was supposed to protect her. Yet, a near decade long investigation into her shocking treatment is far from convincing in uncovering the truth and full extent of what happened to her.
“It is also appalling that the government chose to publish this report a few days after the Dáil went into recess. It has been sitting on the government’s desk since last year. The Government’s handling of this scandal should be scrutinised in the Dáil. The report should be the subject of Leaders’ Questions today but again the government has endeavoured to side-step accountability on yet another matter of serious importance.”
